Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to apparatus and methods for monitoring a fluid. Particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to monitoring a fluid for the presence of a tracer.
Description of the Related Art
Optimal oil production from the reservoir depends upon reliable knowledge of the reservoir characteristics. Traditional methods for reservoir monitoring include seismic log interpretation, well pressure testing, production fluid analysis, and production history matching. Due to the complexity of the reservoir, all information available is valuable in order to give the operator the best possible knowledge about the dynamics in the reservoir.
During enhanced oil recovery operations, the reservoir may be monitored to determine injection fluid breakthrough. For example, in a waterflooding operation, fluid samples in the wellbore may be collected and analyzed in a laboratory to determine water breakthrough in order to estimate reservoir characteristics. However, analysis in the laboratory only indicates an event such as injection fluid breakthrough has occurred and the temporal resolution is generally poor.
There is a need, therefore, for apparatus and methods of monitoring fluids in the wellbore in real time in order to remove this temporal uncertainty.